Apparatus for electrocoppering metals.



No. 686,395; Patented Nov. l2, l90l. E. L. DESSULLE.

, APPARATUS FOR ELECTBUGOPPERING' METALS.

(Applicatioh flled mu. 6, 19001 (.No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMILE LOUIS DESSO LLE, OF LEVALLOIS-PERRET, FRANCE.

APPARATUS'FOR E LECTROCOPPERING METALS.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 68 6,395, dated. November 12, 1901. I

Application filed March 6, 1900. Serial No. 7,455. (No model.) v I To all whom, it may concern: I

Be it known that I, EMILE LOUIS DESSOLLE, engineer, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at 19 Rue Fromont, Levallois-Perret, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Electrocoppering Metals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention. relates to improvements in apparatus for electrocoppering metals; and its object is to avoid the defects of the methods heretofore in use, which latter always produce the metallic deposits in a more or less imperfect state, the surfaces being composed of a succession of small semispheres, as brought forth by the caprice of the polarization. I attain this object by the apparatus described hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a vertical section of the entire apparatus.

I employ my apparatus especially for electrocoppering cast-iron, iron, steel, and zinc; but it may be used with equal advantage for electrocoppering any other metal.

Before subjecting the pieces to the method proper they are first cleaned and then finished either by an acid-bath or by means of sandjets obtained by the action of compressed air' or steam. If after this treatment there remain still some defects, they are filed or chiseled off, and should there be any holes or blasts they are either soldered or filled with a. metallic cement. A hydrate of metallic tin, for example, may be produced after the following manner: Immerse two thin plates of tin in a solution composed of ten parts of sulfuric acid and eighty parts of water in a manner such that these two plates shall be connected each with one of the poles of a source of electricity of which the potential tension should be not less than 2.5 volts. After about half an hour the plate constituting the negative pole will be covered with a gray deposit, which maybe removed by the aid of a scratcher and which is nothing but stannous hydrate, of which the chemical formula is Sn(OH) This product is plastic and preserves its plasticity in water or protected from the air, and it may then serve as an ordin ary plaster for stopping the holes or blasts This hydrate of tin is capable in cast pieces.

' of being polished when it is dry and presents in that case a smooth surface approaching the color and brilliance of polished tin. When the pieces are prepared as heretofore described, I immerse them in an alkaline bath traversed by an electric current, in which bath they receive their first copper coating. Sometimes I do this first coppering before I finish the pieces, especially in the case when they have holes or blasts which are to be soldered, because tin sticks better to copper than to iron. The pieces being well prepared and having received a first copper coating, they are brought into the acid-bath, where they are covered with the final metal coating of the thickness deemed necessary.

In order to obtain the copper deposit rapidly-that is to say, that the operation may be done with a very great density of the current (about one thousand amperes to the square-meter surface of the catho des)I employ my improved apparatus, which I shall now describe.

a is a wooden trough with a double bottom 17, made of wood or any other insulating material and provided with holes. The part ofthe trough separated from its upper part by the double bottom communicates through the pipe 01, made of wood or any other material not a conductor of electricity, with a reservoir or trough c, placed on top of the apparatus. The liquid is pumped into this reservoir or upper trough by means of a pump e through the pipe f. Both the pump and the pipe are made of wood or any other material not a conductor of electricity. v

The objects to be coppered on are suspended on the negative conductors and'placed between the anodes Which' latter are sus-' In order to precipitate the deposit and to render it mor'esolid, it is necessary that the electrolyte be heated. To this end I place a coil in the upper trough 0, whereby I obtain a better result than if the electrolyte were heated in the trough g, because the liquid is employed and thrown on the electrodes through the respective pipes directly from its heating-place.

It may happen that the work of the pump is superior to the quantity of liquid consumed by the jets.- In order to obviate this inconvenience, I provide an outlet, as at 2', at a suitable height in the trough c, and with this outlet connect the pipes 7c, which latter convey the surplus back into the trough g.

I insist upon the pipes and pumps being made of wood or any other insulating material,so that the current cannot escape, and the efiects of the electrolysis are kept in their full force in the trough aan ad vantage which would not be obtained if the pipes and pump were made of metal conducting parts of the current into the ground. It is true, on the other hand, that the liquid itself is a conductor; but the volume of this liquid contained in the pipes is of such a resisting force that the current in consequence of the small voltage employed (one volt as a maximum) cannot traverse it.

By the employment of my apparatus as heretofore described I obtain very important advantages, namely: first, a great density of the current in the liquid, the uninterrupted movement of the electrolyte by means of the jets producing waves which sweep the electrodes, especially the cathod es,and keep them constantly in good working condition, carrying away all impurities and bubbles which usually cover the electrodes when the electrolyte is still, and, second, as a result of this movement a uniform deposit of the metal on the cathodes, which are kept free from the bubbles of hydrogen by the action of the jets or waves. In other words, I assure through my method and apparatus a depolarization of the cathodes and a great perfection of the product.

I have filed a separate application for a patent covering the methods herein referred to and which may be carried out by the use of the apparatus above described or by other suitable means. The said application was filed on July 5,1900, and bears the Serial No. 22,502 of 1900.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- In an apparatus for electroooppering metals, the combination of a principal trough containing the electrolyte wherein the anodes and cathodes are plunged, with a double wooden bottom provided with holes or pipes for the passage of the liquid from the lower chamber to the upper chamber of the trough; with an upper trough in communication with the principal trough by a wooden pipe ending in the principal trough between its two bottoms; with a coil in the upper trough for the circulation of a hot fluid; with a lower trough communicating with the two other troughs by means of wooden pipes and destined to receive the surplus liquid dropped from the principal and the upper trough and provided furthermore with a pump and a feeding-pipe, both of insulating material, the pipe ending above the upper trough and feeding the latter by means of the said pump, substantially as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

Signed at Paris, France, this 21st day of February, 1900.

EMILE LOUIS DESSOLLE.

\Vitn esses:

PAUL BAoARn, CHARLES MENGELLE. 

